I heard they're targeting Walmart's consumer base by offering discounts on Amazon Prime to people on Medicaid. At first I thought it sounded stupid, but as high speed Internet becomes more ubiquitous and delivery options become cheaper and cheaper, online shopping may be a huge gain in the lower socioeconomic classes.

re: Is there any downside to buying Amazon right now? Is there really a ceiling?Posted by HYDRebs on 3/8/18 at 11:25 am to GenesChin

quote:The Alexa isn't always "listening" The in device technology is only capable of recognizing the wake word which activates the device to listen/record. This was done on purpose as a privacy measure

The only time long term recording is done, which requires Amazon's cloud, is after you wake your Alexa.

re: Is there any downside to buying Amazon right now? Is there really a ceiling?Posted by ATLdawg25 on 3/8/18 at 11:29 am to GenesChin

quote:The Alexa isn't always "listening" The in device technology is only capable of recognizing the wake word which activates the device to listen/record. This was done on purpose as a privacy measure

If a service is provided to you for free, 99.9% of the time you are paying the cost with some type of personal information. Google is a great example. That free search engine you're using is recording an unconscionable amount of data that Google then uses to sell advertising. I have no doubt Alexa operates the same way, whether google admits it or not.

You could be onto something with this however Amazon has made huge moves to shift itself away from a "core business" model. At one point it was a marketplace/logistics company, at this point it is a mixture of all different things that intertwine with each other which is really where it's value is.

Obviously the counterpoint is what happens when the profitable parts of the company stop being profitable and no longer outweigh the non profitable parts. Other companies have done so much to catch up with Amazon's logistics it no longer really has that advantage over everyone else.